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All Jakub Kindl wants is a chance, something he didn't really get under the former regime.

Kindl already has had a sit-down meeting with new Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, during which the message was conveyed. Blashill appears to be amenable, having used Kindl on both special teams and experimenting with him on the team's third defense pairing. Kindl has responded with a goal and two assists through two exhibitions and likely will get into at least two more games by Saturday.

"It looks like he has given me a chance," Kindl said today. "That's all I can ask for. So I am just going to come here every day and compete and, hopefully, I can make the lineup."

The top four already is occupied by Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, Danny DeKeyser and newcomer Mike Green. That leaves Kindl, Kyle Quincey and Brendan Smith contending for the last two spots, pushed by prospects Alexey Marchenko and Xavier Ouellet.

Kindl has earned praise for his audition.

"He has done a real good job," Blashill said. "He did a good job on the power play the other night. He has gone back for pucks -- the biggest thing with Kindl is to get back to pucks and do a real good job of breaking the puck out. Not that he can't defend but, like lots of guys, you are way better if you just get the puck out of your zone."

Blashill said the third pairing is still being determined. There are three exhibitions left: Wednesday at Pittsburgh and then a weekend home-and-home with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto, of course, is now home to Mike Babcock, who never warmed to Kindl. When Kindl produced a goal and an assist March 24 in what was his first game in nearly a month, it didn't matter; Kindl still was scratched the next game. And the next one. And so on, not reappearing until the April 11 regular-season finale.

"How often that happens, when a guy puts up two points and had a good game, and next thing you know, he sits for 10 games?" Kindl said. "But that is in the past. I don't want to have that in my mind. I am just excited for this new camp, that is for sure."

Kindl, 28, seemed on the rise when he looked transformed during the lockout-shortened 2013 NHL season, but by the next fall, it was back to being a healthy scratch on a regular basis. The Wings have tried to trade Kindl but found no takers, even with Kindl's reasonable $2.4-million salary cap hit through 2016-17.

Given that the Wings want to see Marchenko and Ouellet in their lineup at some point this season, maybe the Wings still trade one of their regulars -- another team is bound to have a need because of an injury, at some point. For now, Kindl is doing what he can to make sure that, this time, he sticks in the lineup.

"So far, it has been good," Kindl said. "I have been feeling great right from the start. I just hope I have a bigger chance. I am just trying to enjoy it as much as I can. I have been here long enough, so I know what position I am in, but it is a fresh start, a new season."

Only so much can be read into the way minutes have been distributed during the exhibition season, because at no point has the whole Detroit-slotted lineup been in one game. But Blashill has used Kindl with Henrik Zetterberg's power-play unit and even had Kindl out killing penalties.

"I have been put on the power play before, so I am more surprised that I have played on our PK a little bit," Kindl said. "It's a new challenge. I feel great so far."